U.S. patent number 4,518,106 [Application Number 06/612,456] was granted by the patent office on 1985-05-21 for collapsible bag and discharge valve therefor.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Custom Packaging Systems, Inc.. Invention is credited to Arthur E. LaFleur.
United States Patent |
4,518,106 |
LaFleur |
May 21, 1985 |
Collapsible bag and discharge valve therefor
Abstract
A large bulk bag is provided with a flexible tubular spout at
its lower end. A valved casing is detachably suspended from the
lower end of the bag beneath and in alignment with the bag's spout.
The bag spout, when opened, is designed to extend into the valved
casing and, thus, permit the contents of the bag to be discharged
in desired metered amounts.
Inventors: |
LaFleur; Arthur E. (Manistee,
MI) |
Assignee: |
Custom Packaging Systems, Inc.
(Manistee, MI)
|
Family
ID: |
24453234 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/612,456 |
Filed: |
May 21, 1984 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
222/460; 222/105;
222/181.3; 222/559; 222/567 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D
88/1668 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65D
88/00 (20060101); B65D 88/16 (20060101); B65D
088/26 () |
Field of
Search: |
;222/527,528,529,530,181,185,460,461,105,173,544,545,559,567
;383/67 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Rolla; Joseph J.
Assistant Examiner: Pedersen; Nils E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Barnes, Kisselle, Raisch, Choate,
Whittemore & Hulbert
Claims
I claim:
1. In combination a bag having a bottom wall provided with a
discharge opening located generally at the central portion thereof,
a flexible tubular discharge spout extending downwardly from said
opening, said discharge spout being collapsible to close said
opening and extendable to open the discharge opening, support means
on the bag spaced around said discharge spout, a discharge valve
casing and means detachably suspending said casing from said
support means in a position aligned with and spaced below said
discharge opening, said spout, when extended from the collapsed
condition, extending downwardly into said valve casing and a valve
member on said casing located below the lower end of the extended
spout so that it is operable both to permit and to arrest flow of
the contents of the bag downwardly therethrough while the spout is
in said extended position.
2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said bottom wall
slopes downwardly and inwardly from its outer periphery to said
discharge opening.
3. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said valve casing
comprises a hopper having an open upper end.
4. The combination set forth in claim 3 wherein said suspension
means support the valve casing so that its upper open end is spaced
from and below the bottom wall of the bag to define a laterally
open clearance space therebetween which enables manual access to
the collapsed spout for extending the same downwardly and thereby
permit the contents of the bag to be discharged into the valve
casing.
5. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein the suspension
means comprise a plurality of individual members spaced apart
around the periphery of the spout.
6. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a flexible
tubular boot projecting downwardly from the bottom wall of the bag
and surrounding said tubular spout, said support means being
secured to said boot.
7. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein the spout member is
dimensioned in length so that when fully extended it projects
downwardly beyond the lower end of the boot.
8. The combination set forth in claim 7 wherein the suspension
means comprises a plurality of individual members spaced around the
periphery of the boot and extending downwardly therefrom to a level
below the lower end of the boot, said valve casing being connected
with the lower ends of said suspension members.
9. The combination set forth in claim 8 wherein said boot is
collapsible to a condition wherein it underlies the collapsed spout
and including means for retaining the boot in said collapsed
condition.
10. The combination set forth in claim 8 wherein said support means
comprises a plurality of grommets spaced around the lower end
portion of said boot and said suspension means comprises a
plurality of hook members extending upwardly from the upper end of
the casing and detachably connected at their upper ends with said
grommets.
11. The combination set forth in claim 6 including a liner in said
bag, said tubular spout defining a bottom discharge opening on the
liner.
12. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein the upper end of
the spout is secured to the inner periphery of said boot.
13. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein the upper end of
the spout is secured to the inner periphery of said boot above the
lower end of the boot.
14. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said suspension
means comprises a plurality of individual straps connected at their
upper ends to the bottom wall of the bag and at their lower ends to
the valve casing.
15. The combination set forth in claim 14 wherein one end of each
strap is detachably connected to either the bottom wall of the bag
or the valve casing.
Description
This invention relates to a discharge valve for a large bulk
bag.
In recent years large collapsible bulk bags made of a fabric
material, such as woven plastic, have come into prominent usage for
shipping various granular materials, such as feed, fertilizer,
resins, etc. Such bags are provided with a spout at one or both
ends for filling the bag and for discharging the contents thereof.
The spouts are normally gathered and tied in some fashion to close
the bag and untied to discharge the contents thereof. As a
practical matter, the upper and lower ends of the bags must be
constructed so that the bags can be stacked vertically directly
upon one another.
The filled bags are shipped to the user, who, to discharge the
contents thereof, suspends the bag over a large hopper, opens the
spout at the lower end of the bag and allows the contents thereof
to flow into the hopper. The empty bag is discarded or returned to
the product supplier in a collapsed compact condition. The hopper
into which the bag contents are discharged normally has a valve at
the lower end thereof for allowing the contents to be discharged as
needed in desired amounts into smaller containers. While this
arrangement for shipping products in bags and discharging the
product into hoppers represents a savings in cost over shipping
such products and manually or otherwise dispensing them from large
rigid containers, such as drums, boxes, etc., it still requires the
use of large, costly hoppers.
The primary object of this invention is to eliminate the need for
large hoppers into which the contents of large bulk bags are
normally discharged.
A more specific object of this invention is to enable the contents
of such bags to be discharged in desired small metered amounts
directly therefrom.
A further object of this invention is to provide a bag construction
which enables a small inexpensive valved casing to be suspended
directly from the bag below the spout thereof to enable discharging
the contents of the bag in desired metered amounts directly into
other containers.
A still further object of this invention is to form a discharge
spout on the large bulk bag that is designed to be automatically
disposed in sealed engagement with a small valved casing suspended
from the bag when the spout is opened.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent from the following description and
accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a large bulk bag
from which a valved casing is suspended in accordance with the
present invention;
FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate successive steps employed for closing
the boot at the lower end of the bag;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 5--5 in
FIG. 2;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the valved casing suspended from
the boot of the bag while the bag spout remains in the gathered and
tied closed condition;
FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 and showing the spout in the
opened position extending into the valved casing;
FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 and showing a liner within the
bag, the lower end of the liner forming the discharge spout for the
bag; and
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view showing an alternate method
for suspending the valved casing from the lower end of a bag.
The collapsible bag involved in this invention is generally
designated 10 and is preferably formed of a fabric material so that
it can be collapsed and folded into a compact form. In its
preferred form the bag has the configuration and construction shown
in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/528,604, filed
Sep. 1, 1983 and assigned to the assignee of this application. The
bag is preferably of generally rectangular cross section, having
four side walls 12 and a bottom wall defined by four panels 14
which incline downwardly toward each other from the lower ends of
the side walls 12 to a four-sided boot 16. Within boot 16 there is
secured a spout 18 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Spout 18 is also
formed as a fabric member. The upper peripheral edge of spout 18
may be stitched to the inside of boot 16 as at 20. A tie cord 22 is
attached to the inside of boot 16 as at 24. Spout 18 can be
collapsed by gathering it together and securing it in this gathered
position by tie cord 22. When so collapsed, the tied spout serves
to close the lower end of the bag.
The lower end of boot 16 has four grommets 26 secured thereto, one
at each of the four sides thereof. These grommets serve a dual
purpose. After the spout 18 is gathered and tied as shown in FIG.
6, a lace 28 can be threaded through the grommets 26 in a manner to
fold each of the four sides of boot 16 upwardly and laced together
in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 2 thru 5. Lace 28 is first
extended through one of the grommets 26 and then both ends of the
lace are threaded through the diametrically opposite grommet 26 as
shown in FIG. 2. The lace is then tightened so that the two
opposite side walls of the boot through which it extends are folded
upwardly and drawn together. Thereafter one end of lace 28 is
extended through one of the remaining grommets and the other end of
the lace is extended through the other remaining grommet as shown
in FIG. 3. When the two ends of the laces are then tightened the
remaining two sides of boot 16 are folded upwardly and the ends are
tied together as shown in FIG. 4. In this condition the boot is
closed and underlies the tied spout 18. This is the condition of
the bag when it is initially filled with product and shipped to the
user.
To dispense the contents of the bag the user supports it in an
elevated position and unties the lace 28 so that the boot 16
extends downwardly as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. He then suspends a
casing 30 from boot 16. Casing 30 comprises an upper hopper section
32 and a lower spout section 34 in which any suitable valve 36 is
arranged for opening and closing the passageway defined by spout
section 34.
Four hooks 38 are spaced around the upper periphery of hopper
section 32 so as to be generally vertically aligned with the four
grommets 26 around boot 16. Hooks 38 are on the order of three to
four inches long so that, when casing 30 is suspended from the boot
as shown in FIGS. 1, 6 and 7, the upper edge of casing 30 is spaced
below the lower end of boot 16 sufficiently to enable the user's
hand to be inserted therebetween for the purpose of loosening tie
cord 22. With the casing suspended in this manner, when tie cord 22
is loosened, the weight of the contents within the bag causes the
spout 18 to open and extend downwardly into the hopper section 32
of the casing. From FIG. 7 it will be observed that spout 18 has a
length substantially greater than boot 16 and is sufficiently long
as to extend downwardly well into the hopper section 32 of casing
30. When the spout is opened by releasing tie cord 22 the material
in the bag will flow downwardly to fill the hopper and cause the
lower end portion of the spout to engage and seal against the inner
periphery of hopper section 32. Thereafter the contents of the bag
can be dispensed in any amount desired by simply manipulating valve
36 to open and close the discharge spout section 34 of casing
30.
In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 thru 7 spout 18 comprises
a relatively short tubular member stitched to boot 16 as at 20. In
the case of some materials, such as food stuffs that require
aseptic conditions, the bag may be provided with a plastic liner 40
as illustrated in FIG. 8. In this case, the discharge spout for the
bag can be formed as a discharge spout 42 at the lower end of liner
40. Spout 42 functions in the same manner as spout 18 previously
described.
While the provision of a boot on the bag such as shown at 16 is
preferred, the invention also has utility in connection with other
bags now being used commercially that are not provided with such a
boot. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, some bags merely have a
check valve flap 44 in the bottom wall thereof and a spout 46 which
functions in the same manner as spout 18. With bags of this type of
construction the casing 30 can be suspended from the bag by means
of straps 48 secured to the bottom wall 50 of the bag. The hooks 38
at the upper end of hopper 32 can be detachably secured to the
lower ends of straps 48.
* * * * *